"Our aircraft was never in Iranian airspace. It was always flying in international air space. The recognized limit is 12 nautical miles off the coast and we never entered the 12 nautical mile limit," Pentagon Press Secretary George Little said in responding to questions from reporters after CNN reported the incident.

Little said the United States believed this was the first time an unmanned aircraft was shot at by the Iranians in international waters over the Gulf. In December of 2011, a U.S. surveillance drone crashed in eastern Iran. Iranians claimed to have shot it down, and created a toy model of the drone to celebrate its capture.

Little stopped short of calling the incident an act of war although the Pentagon was concerned.

Two U.S. officials explained the jets were part of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps force, which has been more confrontational than regular Iranian military forces.

At least two bursts of gunfire came from the Su-25s' cannons. The drone started to move away but the Iranian aircraft chased it, doing aerial loops around it before breaking away and returning to Iran.

The Obama administration did not disclose the incident before the presidential election, but three senior officials confirmed the details to CNN on Thursday. They declined to be identified because of sensitive intelligence matters surrounding the matter.

The drone's still and video cameras captured the incident showing two Su-25s approaching the Predator and firing onboard guns.

The Iranian pilots continued to fire shots that went beneath the Predator but were never successful in hitting it, according to the officials.

U.S. military intelligence analysts are still not sure if the Iranian pilots simply were unable to hit the drone due to lack of combat skill, or whether they deliberately were missing and had no intention of bringing it down.

But as one of the officials said, "it doesn't matter, they fired on us."

Little said the United States has to assume Iran was trying to bring down the Predator.

The United States protested the incident but had not heard back from Iran.

soundoff(3,883 Responses)

Ashneel

Mr majid,your talk is full of anger,anger leads towards war.but let me tell you and your iranian leaders, time is running out,its time to talk,or.face the bell never seen before.we have faith in Obama and he is loved by the whole world.

Hey blue ice,don't melt like a ice with full of anger.Obama is and will be a great leader and he is loved the whole world.please do travel around the world and do ask people how much they like him.I have done that and I know it.so shut up and pants down.

November 11, 2012 at 1:16 am |

Chris

I love Obama. He is definately not hated as you say. You are one angry Rebuplican't!

Mr majid,I won't be dead or the world will be dead,this is your anger talking.what has your Iranian leaders gave you,only hard life and suffering.Get up and think of your future and your kids future.do the right thing.

u know, fk iranian leaders and them policy
u are right about them and me, but obama and america not sent by god and lies flow like a river.
they feel danger about iranian army and get fk iranian people to revolution and stop it but people is tired to change
my friend all this things go to a war i know it and believe it happening soon . i have to defend my country in any way
every culture have rise and fall and we are in fall term a long time but i like to keep it safe for hope of change
good luck my dear friend 🙂

November 11, 2012 at 4:21 am |

Ashneel

Have faith in your god,soon some one will be in your country to help you all.

(b) For the protection of national security or of public order (ordre public), or of public health or morals.

Furthermore, Article 2(4) of the UN Charter states that "All members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations."

Please read below so you would know something before you start dribbling here and give me head ache:

Bilateral Agreement

The January 19, 1981, the United States government and the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran concluded the Algiers Accords. (Although the Accords was re-classified by George W. Bush, a review of it is accessible at Columbia Law Review, Vol. 81, No. 4 (May, 1981), pp. 822-90). Article 1 of the agreement is as follows:

"I: Nonintervention In Iranian Affairs 1. The United States pledges that it is and from now on will be the policy of the United States not to intervene, directly or indirectly, politically or militarily, in Iran's internal affairs."

You can read right?
1. The United States pledges that it is and from now on will be the policy of the United States not to intervene, directly or indirectly, politically or militarily, in Iran's internal affairs."

November 10, 2012 at 8:45 pm |

TGK

Haman1: I read just fine...again, what internal situation in Iran is the U.S. "interfering" with? Answer the question, before you give me a headache...

November 11, 2012 at 9:08 pm |

haman1

Please see below information that you need to know before you start rambling here and give me a head ache:

Bilateral Agreement

The January 19, 1981, the United States government and the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran concluded the Algiers Accords. (Although the Accords was re-classified by George W. Bush, a review of it is accessible at Columbia Law Review, Vol. 81, No. 4 (May, 1981), pp. 822-90). Article 1 of the agreement is as follows:

"I: Nonintervention In Iranian Affairs 1. The United States pledges that it is and from now on will be the policy of the United States not to intervene, directly or indirectly, politically or militarily, in Iran's internal affairs."

WWIII? Which countries are going to come to Iran's defense and get into a direct military confrontation with the U.S. after precision strikes are carried out on Iran's nuclear weapons facilities?

November 10, 2012 at 8:28 pm |

Ashneel

Obama is and will be the great leader.he is a smart when it come dealing with Iran.Have you seen how much Iran is suffering now,and more is on the way.That's what you call a smart war on Iran without a bullet fired.think and then think again what you write u du... A..

November 10, 2012 at 9:16 pm |

transpenitrate

CNN is a government propaganda tool...everything they say is a lie!...just look at its track record...and its affiliates...they does fornicate with thee

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The only reason Obama got re-elected was the media. If this country goes down we have them to thank. If the election had been fairly covered Romney would have won. Remember you don't have to be able to read and write in english to vote in the country. In many places you don't even have to be a citizen.

hinduism, terrorism invites hinduism, terrorism, live with it hindu Jew's, criminal secular s, iself centered.
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With the dollar sliding quickly into oblivion, the banking cartel have no other choice but to start a war, that's what they do. Even if Romney would have won the election we are sure to get the same two things from either side, death and debt. Now be good citizens and breed somemore soliders! we'll soon have 3 warfronts to mantain.

In addition, even if it was "armed", the MQ-1 is armed with Hellfire air to surface missiles. No U.S. UAV is armed with self-defense (air-to-air) capabilities... People sure post some ignorant questions...easy to find out this basic information on the internet. Must be just too lazy to type a couple of keywords and read...

Not all drones are armed idiot. Most are for survelliance and reconnaissance. Some drones can be armed with Hell Fire Missiles, those are for Air to Ground atacks. Drones are not for dog fights with jets armed with Air-to-Air missiles and 30mm machineguns.

CNN you get ONE CHANCE to become a real NEWS NETWORK from this point because this story being reported now look's like it took you too LONG to CLIMB out of OBAMA'S @ S S HOLE to report it. But I have to give you CREDIT you did break the NEWS "nice job cnn"!

This is another addition to the numerous ways Obama 's people cheated to win the presidency. They knew of it 5 days BEFORE the election and kept it from us until a couple days AFTER the election. Let's call it as it is. It was censorship, ignoring and abusing our Freedom of the Press, and, again, keeping the TRUTH from the American people. They know they wouldn't and couldn't have won the election without lies, half-truths, omission of the truth and true facts.

November 9, 2012 at 7:19 pm |

CC

Lady patriot is absolutely correct in her statement.
CNN needs to do a news story covering why the Obama administration took 24 government agencies off the freedom of information act? This administration clams to be transparent but their actions show they are not.

November 9, 2012 at 7:36 pm |

Grapost

THE PENTAGON IS LYING! The drone was over Iranian soil. This US has been invading Iranian air space with spy drones for years to spy on their nuclear facilities. There is nothing of intelligence value 16 miles off the Iranian coast in any direction so it bull to say it was there.

It's just like in the 1950's when the US was sending U2 Spy Planes into Russian air space to spy on the them and finally the Russians shot one down with a missile.

The spy drones are stealth but it looks like the Iranians were able to detect this one an send a jet up to shoot it down.

What would we do if Iran, China or Russian sent spy drones into our country flying over our cities. SHOOT THEM DOWN! So the Iranians did nothing wrong, but the media won't tell you that.

Remember, a U.S. warship shot down an Iranian passenger airliner in 1988 killing 300 people!

Get a job? Just got back to home station from the CAOC on a 6 month deployment in the Arabian Gulf working on the combat ops floor working directly with these MQ-1s... You can take your foot out of your mouth now...you lose.

November 9, 2012 at 2:14 pm |

Grapost

THE PENTAGON IS LYING! The drone was over Iranian soil. This US has been invading Iranian air space with spy drones for years to spy on their nuclear facilities. There is nothing of intelligence value 16 miles off the Iranian coast in any direction so it bull to say it was there.

It's just like in the 1950's when the US was sending U2 Spy Planes into Russian air space to spy on the them and finally the Russians shot one down with a missile.

The spy drones are stealth but it looks like the Iranians were able to detect this one an send a jet up to shoot it down.

What would we do if Iran, China or Russian sent spy drones into our country flying over our cities. SHOOT THEM DOWN! So the Iranians did nothing wrong, but the media won't tell you that.

Remember, a U.S. warship shot down and Iranian passenger airliner in 1988 killing 300 people!

Hmmm. I was thinking about this last night and came to the conclusion that this is Iran jerking Americas chain. If they had really wanted to shoot the Drone down, they would have. If a Jet can put a lock on a missile and take it out, a Drone would be even easier. No, what Iran was doing was psychological, a "we can get you whenever we want to" flip off. Now, they are just waiting to see how Obama is going to respond because that is what this little "test" was all about from the get-go.

As civilized citizens of the USA we are duty bound to confront anyone, any armed force and especially a knon JIHAD nation who sends strike aircraft into our sp, our shared space over international waters for the purpose of shooting down one of our own aircraft simply because we must show the attacker that we will turn and face an enemy. A show of weakness gets zero respect. In fact it works like a charm when jihadist people are involved. They love to attack people who show weakness. It's like adding salt to a wound and jihadists work from a position of being wounded.

A SU-25 is not really a fighter jet. It has a cannon but was not probably carrying a serious Air to air package. It was designed for ground support, much like a A-10 for the US. I doubt that the Iranian pilots have received much air to air gun training and an SU-25 pilot probably none. Was never impressed by the Iranian pilots when they were in the US training pipeline.

BWHAHAHAHAAHA, MORE LIES AND PROPAGANDA FROM THE CNN TALKING HEADS,, ALRIGHT SO LET 'S SUM IT BEFORE THE PRO- ISRAEL SHILLS ARE SCREAMING , LET S BOMB IRAN!!! LETS BOMB IRAN. KRAUTMHAMMER SAID THE FIRST ONES TO SHOOT DOWN A DRONE WILL BE HAILED PATRIOTS,,,, SO THE IRANIANS ARE THE PATRIOTS,,,, IF YOU SEND SPYING PLANES OFF OF THE COAST OF THE U.S.A YES IT WILL GET SHOT DOWN,,THINGS LIKE THAT WILL HAPPEN , SO NO ITS NOT AN ACT OF WAR, BUT AN ACT OF DEFENSE, SO I DONT SEE THE BIG WHOOP HERE....... OH BY THE FOR A YOU STUPID AMERICANS WHO THOUGHT THERE WAS GOING TO BE A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN OBOZO AND MITTENS YOU ARE IN A SAD STATE... WAKE YOU DUMMIES,,,,,,, CNN IS LOSING VIEWERSHIP BECAUSE YOU CAN CUT THROUGH THE LIES WITH A BUTTERKNIFE!!!!!!!!!!

Are you in the U.S. military? Specifically at the EADS, WADS, ANR or CONR? If you're not, then you need to really zip you mouth on what our reaction would be towards a foreign country flying their aircraft in international airspace off our coast. The Russians have been flying their Tu-95s up and down the AK and CONUS coasts ROUTINELY and NOTHING HAPPENS.
You are clueless...

The messiah wouldn't protect our ambassador or security people in Benghazi...... He certainly isn't going to be upset about an unmaned drone. "Al Qaeda is dessimated and on the ropes".... Chris Matthews tells us the sanctions are working in Iran. and the progressives drive around in cars with stickers that say "War is not the answer".
They think capitalism is evil and that we should surender and die.

First we must investigate. It will be a long investigation so that you don't remember what they were investigating when its finally done. Then we will look at how we probably had it coming to us anyway by somehow dissing them on youtube. Then we will arrest the video maker and sentence him to a year in federal prison and apologize to the Iranians for the first ammendment. This is Obama Land after all. Where everything is free except for us.

You call yourself America 1st how ironic. Would it have been an act of war if it would have beenhit or manned? Or is it okay for other countries to shoot at our aircraftsover international waters just cause?

The good news is that they have now exposed themselves as not even being able to shootdown a remote-controlled airplane with 2 fighter jets. Good luck when Israel (re U.S.) bombs their nuclear facilities in the next few months.

To those friends who get upset by Iran action, Iran Islamic's regime has no Legitimacy and Iranians are suffering from this sabotage regime for 32 years, yes officially 98% of Iranians are officially Muslim but as you saw after releasing that anti-Islamic film no one get upset in Iran while Americans best friends(Pakistani’s officials) put prize for beheading the film producer.

Reza from Iran: I have met many Iranians here in America that are very fine people. I sympathize with your people suffering, but unfortunately, because of his position, Ahmedinejad is the face of Iran, and the only way many people can identify with your country. I would hope that relations between our nations could return to the days of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

What an outrageous piece of non-journalism. Anonymous sources? Check. Parroting without skepticism the government account of events? Check. No attempt to question the facts, i.e. what was the drone doing? Check. Etc.

This is not journalism it's stenography. What a pathetic organization CNN has become. Starr is a simply a press release writer for the government.

Why does it matter? Meida stenography of government lies, raher than factual reporting, got us into the Iraq war. Remember the big NY Times story about WMD. All Petnatgon BS we know now. How about Vietnam. Remember those torpedo boats that fired at US ships in the Gulf of Tonkin - a major rationale for another ill-advised military foray? All lies we konw now.

Hey CNN, how about sending your reporters back to journalism school for a refresher?

Steve, you are spot on. Sadly, this is not the only example we see on a day to day basis, it's an ongoing trudgery of propoganda. Even more sadly, most people are too dumb to realize it and see their news for what it is, garbage. The only real organization with the chance for producing REAL journalism is PBS, but with the gubment's greasy fingers all over that now too, it's a long shot. Ideally, PBS should be funded by "viewers like you", and by an electorate who cares enough about media independence and journalism to fund it. Amen brother, more attention needs to be brought to the incompetence of media, since so many other problems (as you explained) stem from it.

First, how would our enemy know the drone was un armed? Second, if the Iranian military is responsible for protecting their country from any threat., then they are obligated to take drone or any other perceived threat down whether in their nation's airspace or not. Why? Because they can without any consequence from our weak Traitor in Chief who will do nothing but bore everyone with another useless speech expressing his benign outrage.

This just sounds silly and makes you sound small-minded. What do you expect this president, or any president for that matter, to do in response? Start an international war because they fired upon our drone? Please. If it had been an American pilot, or any other branch of the military, then I see the rationale for a military response. But to argue that Obama is a traitor because he won't place a consequence upon Iran is just ideologically small-minded. Get over the fact that he doesn't operate the way you want. The genius of democracy is that you like some leaders, despise others, and sometimes you get your way.

I don't see any reason the US should risk one life for that country. Keep running the drones, and just be sure to have a response ready if it becomes potentially lethal.

Its an act of war but whatever.Liberals are so insightful. I expect he will do nothing because that's what he always does. I'm sure killing an Ambassador and three other Americans is fine too. Lets not freak out about it. lets find a new safe label for it so you and the Administration can continue to keep your heads frimly between your butt cheeks. Sure that will work what an awesome foreign policy.

November 9, 2012 at 11:22 am |

Steve

What an outrageous piece of non-journalism. Anonymous sources? Check. Parroting without skepticism the government account of events? Check. No attempt to question the facts, i.e. what was the drone doing? Check. Etc.

This is not journalism it's stenography. What a pathetic organization CNN has become. Starr is a simply a press release writer for the government.

Why does it matter? Meida stenography got us into the Iraq war. Remember the big NY Times story about WMD. All Petnatgon BS we know now. How about Vietnam. Remember those torpedo boats that fired at US ships in the Gulf of Tonkin - a major rationale for another ill-advised military foray? All lies we konw now.

Hey CNN, how about sending your reporters back to journalism school for a refresher?

You probably didn't hear about Benghazi. But that's understandable because the meida had to protect their candidate. We lost an Ambassador and a few Americans. No biggie. Were filling it under workplace violence and investigating how to punsih ourselves for upsetting the Lybian rebels.

November 9, 2012 at 11:25 am |

eville11

if you don't call raiding an embassy and killing an ambassador an act of war, screwing with an unmanned drone over international waters is nothing.

Um. I'm sure in your head we are whoever is to blame for everything bad that has happened in the whole world ever. Did I get it right?

November 9, 2012 at 11:34 am |

American for America

Why are we antagonizing other countries? We do not find drones in America acceptable to our privacy. We invade, bomb and destroy other countries because they do not fall in line with what our government’s idea of democracy is. Our forefathers fought our wars for our freedom. It’s about time to let the other countries worry about themselves. Time for America to worry about Americans, time for secrecy of a big government to end. Time to look threw the lies and demand the truth.

You mean "indoctrinated". Americans may know all paths in this world don't involve Israel, but according to any media or Washington, at any moment something could happen so send more money and help us.... It's sick.

November 9, 2012 at 7:56 am |

graffin

I'd say spelling, too.

November 9, 2012 at 9:18 am |

American for America

If you’re referring to our history as a country I do not need and education. As for modern day history of our country and the construed truth that you are feed through the mass media outlet then you would be the one who needs to do a little more research. Let’s see: lies from you commander and chief over Benghazi , Fast and Furious scandal all whistle blowers saw ramifications for their action in letting the People know. The CIA whistle blower in the Fast and Furious scandal was fired in a Denny’s parking lot. Benghazi, The President was watching as it unfolded and denied help when it was called in then lied when asked (right before the election). Why would that happen leaves me to believe there were other motives there….. Learn to question what you’re told and do your research. There are more instances where this happens, to many to name. We all know that well know terrorist were trained and paid to do our governments bidding. You must be one of the narrow minded morons that have caused this great country to become what it is. Let’s go full circle with this. Give me the truth of why were there no distorted lies. Too many great citizens of this country have lost their lives to what the government tells us is to promote democracy or to protect the people. We as people question others integrity every day why not question the government.

November 9, 2012 at 9:49 am |

Alex

The drone was flying over international waters. It wasn't over Iranian airspace. It wasn't antagonizing anything.

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CNN's Security Clearance examines national and global security, terrorism and intelligence, as well as the economic, military, political and diplomatic effects of it around the globe, with contributions from CNN's national security team in Washington and CNN journalists around the world.